


Hunger

by PaperHatCollection



Series: Monster!Flug au [1]
Category: Villainous (Cartoon)
Genre: Cannibalism, Gore
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-01
Updated: 2017-08-22
Packaged: 2018-11-07 15:01:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11061441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaperHatCollection/pseuds/PaperHatCollection
Summary: Blackhat is the only one who gets to watch Flug eat





	1. Chapter 1

It was nearly midnight before the hunger struck.

His estimates had given him another two days, and he normally was spot on when it came to his own biology. Perhaps it had been the blood samples he’d been mixing at the time, the smell of which could have triggered something  _ primail _ inside of him. That, and the knowledge a meal was just waiting to be eaten. 

The nasua hit him first, welling up inside him as if he were going to be  _ sick _ . Experience taught him otherwise. Flug stumbled away from the table, trying to avoid knocking anything over and steading himself with his hands. Another wave hit him like a semi, causing him to drop the vial of blood to the floor where it shattered, scattering the crimson liquid across the tiles of his lab. His own arms wrapped tightly around his stomach, attempting to ground himself as he doubled over from the pain gnawing at his insides. 

Attempting to draw in air through his nose only made the nausea  _ worse _ as the rising scent of fresh blood filled his senses. He’d never quite been like a shark- he didn’t go into a blind frenzy when he was hungry, but that didn’t mean a good chunk of his reasoning didn’t fly out the window. 

Had he been a bit more in his right mind, he would’ve locked the doors to his lab, turned off the lights, acted as if he’d already gone to bed for the night. Even at this hour, Demencia was known to still be up and crawling around the walls, and 505 could happen to come in too check up on him and make sure Flug was taking care of himself. Black Hat generally didn’t check up on him all that often, so long as Flug’s performance wasn’t suffering from his late night shifts. 

After shaking his head, Flug slowly lifted his eyes to the man he’d tied up on a nearby table. Passed out, likely, from the amount of blood that had already been taken to assist in the creation of a new toxin that targeted human cells. There was no thought, no debate. He’d already set his mind on his next move. 

Flug stumbled forward, tripping on his own feet as his vision blacked out for one brief moment. It really wasn’t healthy for him to push himself so long between meals, but call it an old habit. Most of the time, it kept him alive. 

Managing to pull himself up, he moved towards the table the man was strapped to, slamming into the side before catching himself on the edge, wheezing. He was nearly atop the human before he remembered to push his bag up, just enough to expose his sharp teeth. His vision was obscured by the dark confines of his bag like this, but he didn’t need it had the moment. 

He let his nose lead him to the man's neck, breathing in the scent of flesh and the blood pumping through those veins, a beating heart allowing  _ life _ to flow through his body. 

Flug clamped down on the man's neck, tearing through the flesh and blood to reach his prize. The man jerked under his jaws once, but didn’t awaken before he was dead. Flug didn’t leat up, tearing into his meal as bones cracked under the force of his jaw, under his hands pressed to the man's body. 

Mind clearing immediately, Flug could  _ feel _ the pain numbness that had been growing in his limbs  _ melt _ out of his muscles, following the disappearance of the pain gnawing at his stomach. He wasn’t… full, he hadn’t been truly  _ full _ in a long,  _ long _ time. 

The body was starting to grow cold under his hands. Granted, it would be another two hours before rigor mortis set in. Flug flexed his jaw as he pulled out, attempting to clean off some of the blood by wiping the back of his hand against his mouth. He succeeded in smearing it over more of his face. 

The sound of glass shards crunching under a heavy boot sounded like a gunshot in his ears, causing him to nearly jump out of his skin as he yanked his bag back down over his face, shoving himself back up and spinning, body backing up against the table as if to hide what he had done. 

Blackhat approached, tilting his head slightly to the left as he did so. His one visible eye slowly trailing over Flugs body from head to foot, taking his frail form in. The body behind him. His bloodied gloves and bag. A wide grin split his face, exposing his own sharp teeth. 

“Oh,  _ my _ .” Blackhat nearly purred, a hand pressing to his chest- right where his heart would be, as he faked horror at the scene before him. “What have you done to this poor -snerk- gentleman?”

Maybe if he could keep his voice steady, it would have been more convincing. 

“S-Sir, I can- I mean, it’s not- I-” Flug stuttered, managing to say absolutely nothing. His boss merely drew closer, completely ignoring personal space as he towering over the scientist and stuffed one of his hands under Flug’s bag.

One of Blackhats fingers- the thumb, it felt like, curling into his mouth and felt over one of Flugs teeth. They weren't half as big as Blackhats were, but then again, Blackhat had quite the impressive set of glow-in-the-dark fangs. 

He wasn’t ready to admit how jealous he got, staring at those chompers Black Hat showed everytime he smiled. 

Flug dared not move until Blackhat had withdrawn his hand, making a pleased sound as he did so.

“What are you then?” Blackhat asked, moving his hands to rest on the table,one on each side of his scientist as he leaned over Flug, forcing him draw further back. “Clearly, not as human as I thought.”

“I, erm, I d-don’t know Sir.” Flug looked past Blackhat, at a spot just beyond his boss's shoulders. Thankfully, his goggles made it hard to follow his eyes. “Um, half human, I think… my mother… n-never told me about the o-other half of my heritage before-”

Flug cut himself off, snapping his mouth shut with an audible  _ shink _ . That was  _ personal _ . He couldn’t believe he had just-

“Before what, Flug?” Blackhat asked, tilting his head again. “Did you  _ eat  _ her?”

When Flug didn’t respond, Blackhat burst out laughing. 

“Oh, you  _ did _ , didn’t you?!” Flug had never seen him look this amused. “Oh, you’re _ far _ more  _ monster _ than human Doctor, I assure you.”

Blackhat suddenly walked around him, eye on the body still on the table. 

“Meats mostly untouched, too much bloods on the table to be the meal… so tell me Flug, what exactly were you getting out of this?” Black Hat asked. 

Flug paused, tapping the table as he tried to put it into words. He… didn’t think too hard on what he was eating, truth be told. It was like a rush of…  _ energy _ filled his system, pooling out to fill him. Like he bit into an electrical system and not into human flesh.

“Erm, I think… the energy?” Flug paused, struggling to put it into better words. “Just the, uh, just the life? I think?”

“Ah. A souleater.” Blackhat shrugged off the term as if it were everyday vernacular. “Interesting. I’ll have to observe more closely next time.”

“... Next time, sir?” Flug asked nervously. 

“Oh, yes.” Blackhat glanced back at Flug, smirk crossing his face inch by inch. “In fact, I know just who you can feast on next time, to boot. For now… isn't it time you went to bed?”


	2. Full

When Blackhat had said he’d watch Flug eat ‘later’ and to ‘get some rest’, Flug naturally assumed he wouldn't have to deal with his biology for at least another day. 

Color him was  _ quite _ surprised when, some odd hours later, Flug was jerked awake by Black Hat kicking open his door, dragging a tied-up man behind him. 

“Eat.” Blackhat commanded, dropping the man to Flug’s bedroom floor. 

Flug stared at the man in mild confusion, reaching a hand under his bag to rub at his eyes. Maybe he was just imagining things as he woke up, but this guy looked vaguely familiar. His tongue flicked out, brushing the edge of his lips before he’d realized he was doing it. 

“In my bedroom, sir?” Flug asked. Blood could be so hard to get out of his clothing, he didn’t want it in his carpet. Besides, it was going to be harder to move the body afterwards.

Blackhat actually seemed to consider a similar train of thought for a moment, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. 

“Fair point. Dining room, ten minutes.” Blackhat ordered, grabbing the man by the back of his shirt and flinging him over his shoulder, leaving with a flourish of his coat. Flug briefly saw the mans terrified face, getting another sudden kick of recognition he couldn’t quite place. 

Thankfully, Flug had been too tired to fully undress after he’d come to his room to rest, and had mostly just stripped the bloodied lab coat and gloves. Of course, he’d  _ also _ changed his paper bag and goggles for new ones… he just wouldn’t have been able to sleep without them. 

His shirt didn’t smell weird, so he just threw on a fresh coat and pair of gloves, and headed out of his room. He’d have to freshen up again after he ate as it was, so he skipped that part for now. 

As he headed down the hall, he had to wonder if he should feel more… guilty. He had been in the beginning, nearly tearing his mind to shreds in his grieve. He’d tried to limit himself, tried animals, tried humans near death (now that had been quite the adventure), but… somewhere along the line, he’d let himself slip. 

He didn’t know when it started. Sure, he’d wait until he was near starving, but that was to keep himself hidden, more than to preserve the lives around him. Besides, it had gotten so much easier to afford test subjects and food when he’d combined the two. 

Maybe it had started when he-

She was just trying to  _ help _ him, she had no way of knowing he was starving without his ‘other’ diet, no matter how much human food he ate. But… he could remember the sandwich she had tried to force him to eat more than he could recall her own face.

Flug realized he was standing in front of the door to the dining room, pausing just one second more to collect himself before heading inside. 

Blackhat was sitting at his normal spot- at the head of the dining table, sipping from a glass of wine. He acted like nothing was strange about having a man tied up on the table. Although, he’d put a white tarp down under the man. Probably to catch the blood and make clean up easier. 

Now that Flug had a chance, he took a closer look at the man. He was still so familiar… ah. He knew this guy. He’d tried to rip them off recently, something about fake funds and a bomb. 

He’d assumed Blackhat had already dealt with him. Clearly, he was wrong. 

“Well?” Blackhat asked, raising his wine glass in the motion of a sip, but he refrained from tilting the glass back.. “It’s rude to refuse a meal someone so carefully picked out for you, you know.”

Flug flinched, approaching the man a tad nervously. He wasn’t as… primal, as he had been last night, but he’d been  _ starving _ . He moved to push the bag up over his mouth, pausing, and then slowly removing it to fold neatly on the table. He didn’t to ruin  _ another _ bag so soon.

He could see Blackhat shift out of the corner of his eyes, but didn’t look to see his reaction. Instead, his attention was completely on the man in front of him, and the  _ fear _ . He’d never seen anyone so  _ afraid _ of him before. It was… intoxicating. 

He got onto the table to get closer, lifting him so he could expose more of his neck, taking a deep breath to get more of that fear. 

He clamped down on the man’s neck to the sound of his screaming. 

Flug didn’t stop, biting further into him and feeling his teeth sink into… something  _ not _ quite flesh, something that buzzed in his mouth and made him feel like he’d bitten right into a can of hyper-infused energy drink. He kept clawing at it, digging out as much as he could. 

He suddenly snapped back to the present, realizing he was holding a corpse in his arms and dropped it as he drew back. He felt…

He felt  _ full _ . 

It was- he hadn’t felt  _ full _ in such a long time. It was like a rush through his limbs, waking up parts of him that had fallen asleep without him noticing… or just forgetting, he supposed.

“Enjoy yourself?”

Flug nearly jumped a foot in the air, jerking around. He’d forgotten his boss was in the room with him. Not only that, but at some point, he’d moved to be directly behind Flug. 

“ _ Beautiful _ .” Black Hat muttered, stepping to the side to better observe the carnage done to the poor man. “Ah, if only I’d known sooner. So many poor saps I would have loved to dangle for your jaws…”

Black Hat seemed to nearly  _ swoon _ at the thought, a wide shark's grin crossing his face. 

“I’ll have 505 clean the mess.” Black Hat decided, snapping his eyes back to Flug. “And take it back to your lab. Speaking of which, I’ll let you get right back to work.”

“Um, yes Sir.” Flug said. He had a bathroom in his lab prepared for just the sort of things he’d need to clean himself up. 

 

Flug normally lost track of time when in the labs, but it didn’t feel like more than a handful of hours before the sensory alarm on his phone went off. 

He paused mid-wielding, glancing down as his phone automatically pulled up security footage of an intruder creeping through the halls of the mansion. Odd, how had-

“It seems.” Black Hat began, appearing behind Flug. “That a hero has gotten in. How troublesome. Hunt him down.”

Flug nearly dropped the torch he was using, scrambling a little to put it away.  _ Oh _ . He was starting to think Black Hat was getting the wrong idea about his nature. He bit his lip, mulling over what he should tell him. 

“Sir, um, I only eat… like that, about once a month.” Flug explained. 

“And you were nearly starving yourself.” Black Hat shot back. “Consider this… making up for lost time than. Now, go hunt that man down and eat him before I break your legs.”

Flug faced his boss, realizing he had one of his ‘far too big for a human grin’ grins on his face. Okay. He’d rather keep his legs. 

“Yes Sir.” Flug muttered, grabbing his phone and heading out of the room. He swiped through the cameras to see the intruder was poking around in the main lobby. The man had a gun with him, so a direct approach was out. 

Doubtlessly it had been built in an attempt to hurt or even kill Black Hat, so Flug wouldn’t stand a chance against it. 

It had been awhile since he’d had to stalk his meals, but he still recalled the general ideas. He kept an eye on his phone, heading down a side hallways and down a flight of stairs, hovering near a door leading into the lobby. 

The hero on the other side was looking over a bust statue of what vaguely resembled Black Hat from somebody trying to make him more human, shifting it aside. It took Flug a moment to realize he was looking for a hidden button.  _ Hah _ . The button was in the statues head. 

The hero fumbled with the statue, dropping it to the floor with a loud  _ CRACK _ that caused the hero to jump. By the time the noise had faded, Flug had already slipped into the room and hid himself behind a nearby chair. Thank goodne- thank badness for his bosses taste in large, ornate furniture. 

He could  _ smell _ the heroes fear. His nerves. The man was on edge, jumpy. Flug wondered if the hero regretted breaking in yet. 

He slipped his coat off his shoulders, slowly pulling his gloves off next. The articles of clothing gently pooled at his feet. Flug reached up, beginning to remove his bag. 

The hero jerked, his gaze snapping over the room once he heard the crinkling sound. He couldn’t quite pin it, slowly turning. Before he could fully look over the room, something slammed into his back. 

Flug dug claws into the hero, tearing the gun from his hands and tossing it across the room. The hero attempted to buck him off, forcing Flug to jump to his main weapon. 

Sharp fangs dug into the hero’s neck, blood coating Flugs jaw as he clamped down, hearing something * _ crack _ * as the hero’s yell turned into a gurgle. 

Instinctively, Flug began to pull out that same energy- the soul, Black Hat had called it. He… didn’t like to think about what he was eating. 

Before he could finish, his body recoiled on him, something threatening to come back up as he coughed violently. This  _ hurt _ . He crawled away from the body- Flug wasn’t sure of the guy was properly dead or what, but right now he didn’t  _ care _ . 

He shuddered, feeling sure that he was bound to hack up a lung if this kept up. Somewhere over his distress, he picked up on the sound of someone approaching, moments before pain erupted across his back. 

It took Flug a moment to collect himself enough to realize Black Hat’s cane was pressed, quite painfully, into his back, right between his shoulder blades. For some reason, the spot was making him feel colder by the moment. 

“I suppose.” Black Hat began, withdrawing his cane. “Three really is too much for you to handle. A shame. Ah well, there’s always next month doctor.” 

Flug rolled over, taking a moment to steady himself. That was… he’d never pushed himself to eat that much before. He gulped, feeling something heavy in his throat. It was… probably his imagination. 

“Erm, Yes s-sir.” he muttered, shuffling a little. A moment later he yelped, Black Hat placing his hands on either side of Flug’s face and lifting it for a clearer look. It occurred to Flug that blood was still dripping from him. 

“Perfect.” Black Hat muttered, eye fixed on Flug’s face.

Without another word, Black Hat let Flug go, stepping away to the hero. With a flick of his hand, the body disappeared into a puff of black smoke, leaving behind a faint scent of decay. 

“Back to your work Flug, I believe I’ve played with you enough for now.” Black Hat ordered, leaving the room. 

“Yes si- played?” Flug asked, watching the doorway that Black Hat had left. 


	3. Pain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Co-wrote this story with http://rachrar.tumblr.com/ who helped me rp out the main plot points. The vast majority of Black Hat's actions and words come directly from them, and they even beta read it for me.  
> Guess who forgot burned flesh doesn't bleed- hint, it's me.

Black Hat had been around for millennia, and yet he still found his curiosity peaked every now and then by particularly interesting puzzles. And now with the knowledge of Flug’s inhuman nature, he was brimming with the desire to understand Flug.

He ate souls, but how? Did the corpse need to be part of the feeding? How did the soul feed Flug’s? Did he eat specific pieces? And most importantly, how far could he actually push Flug before he broke?

Oh, and what exactly  _ was _ he?

“Flug.” Black Hat spoke, his greeting casual as he pushed open the door to the lab. He was looking the the man- ha,  _ creature _ , and knew he was sure to be found in his lab. “We have to  _ talk _ .”

Flug was used to Black Hat showing up unannounced, but that didn’t make it any more pleasant. He briefly fumbled with the beaker in his hand before setting it down carefully on the table, careful not to jolt the sensitive solution inside too much, or he’d lose half his lab. 

“Oh, um, yes, yes sir?” he asked, shuffling away from his work table and fidgeting with the edges of his coat. He mentally went over any reason his boss would want to talk to him out of nowhere… and given recent events, it was pretty clear. “Do you need anything?”

Black Hat wasn’t concerned if his interest in the matter was so transparent, if anything, he was amused; Flug knew him fairly well. What a good little scientist. 

“Don’t play coy with me, Doctor. You know exactly what I wish to talk about. Now come over here and remove that bag over your head. It’s time to turn the tables on examinations.” he smirked, removing his gloves. Oh, he nearly  _ shivered _ in his excitement.

Flug flinched a little, glancing away from that wide grin spreading across his boss's face- he could see the large, razor fangs inside, twice his owns size, if not more. “Of course sir.” Flug responded gravely, feeling as if he was agreeing to be cut up into little pieces.

Rather than remove his bag at once, he clapped his hands twice, dimming the bright lights in the lab. In such a large lab, it could be a hassle to cross the lab just to dim the lights… though they also dimmed automatically when it was late, when he normally fed on would-be experiments.

His hands flicked to his bag, removing the both the paper bag and goggles all at once. It exposed his face, the mouth full of sharp teeth and his reversed eyes, some of the most striking features of his..  _ other _ heritage.

If Black Hat was irritated at the lowered light level, or simply accepted it as a prerequisite to seeing Flug’s face, he didn’t show it. Rather, his own expression was almost bored as he grasped Flug’s chin with thin, sharp fingers, turning his face too and fro. “Open.” He commanded, tapping Flug’s lips demandingly. Of course, he’d seen those teeth before, but they were his favorite part about the little scientist so far. 

Flug couldn't help but shiver as he obeyed, fiddling with his hands again. He was used to studying, not being studied. 

Black Hat ran his fingers across the other's jaw, dancing over those-  _ oh _ . His interest spiked once he realized there was a secondary set of teeth, half the size and hidden behind the first.  _ Fascinating _ . He touched one, pressing his finger down on the point rather sharply. 

The teeth were sharper than he’d realized thus far, easily cutting through his flesh. His eyes widened as he pulled his hand back, looking closely as the way his green blood oozed from his cut finger.

“I was not expecting that.” he mused. “I have yet to meet another being unlike like myself that could truly wound me- unless we count you.”

Flug slowly closed his jaw, hit with the taste of  _ wrong _ filling his mouth. It made him want to vomit. Black Hat tasted so… unnatural.

“S-sorry sir.” he muttered, hand instinctively reaching for his paper bag before he jerked his hand back down, fumbling with his fingers.

Gotta keep the bag off for now.

He cleared his throat. “Do, um, d-do you have any idea what I might be?” he asked hopefully.

Black Hat waved away the apology, unconcerned. It was a small cut, and fairly clean. He’d faced much worse. And from the looks of things, Flug wasn’t venomous. He closed his fist for a moment, opening it once the cut was corrected back into a flawless finger. 

What sharp little teeth. He liked them.

“There are hundreds of beings with teeth and that eat souls. Granted, most of them are individuals. And crafted." He re-manifested his glove, tugging them over his hands."I can think of a couple that are native to this plane, but there are no clear indicators to any in particular just yet."

He’d need a little more information about his dear Doctor before could pin it… speaking of which-

“That being said… how old are you really, Flug?” Black Hat asked. He’d begun to notice Flug’s lack of… aging, in the handful of years the other had worked with him. He was never very good at keeping track of human timetables, but for once he felt confident that  _ no _ , it was the other person who wasn't aging as he should. 

Flug paused, glancing off and shrugging. "Maybe about... somewhere around a hundred... maybe a hundred fifty?" he guessed. "I uh, stopped bothering to keep track after a while." He explained, kicking a spare bolt across the floor with his foot. He seemed a tad embarrassed about not knowing the exact date of his birth. 

"So… young, then." Black Hat rubbed at his chin thoughtfully. A recent creature, or at least a relatively modern one. It was a shame-- some of the older cryptids were ones he knew next to nothing about, and now he never would. Oh well.

"Do you regenerate?" Black Hat asked, but didn't leave any time after for Flug to answer before grabbing the man's hand, jerking the yellow glove off in one swift motion. His forked tongue danced over the bare skin, teeth mere inches from taking off a finger to find out the answer.

Flug jerked back, attempting to free himself on reflex, but didn’t seem to be able to break out of Black Hat’s grip. His hand curled slightly, but the finger stuck over Black Hat’s grip failed to do so, or it would have cut itself. Each finger had a thick black claw covering the last joint, a feature Black Hat had noticed when he’d last made Flug hunt down that hero.

"Y-Yes but o-only when I e-eat." he stuttered out quickly, attempting to steer away from that fate. Flug had never- he wasn't  _ good  _ at handling pain.

"Oh, that's not a problem," Black Hat answered, almost  _ cheerful. _ "You know I'll not starve you." 

He bit into Flug's skin, intrested to see if it would resist him. A tad disappointingly, his teeth cut through Flug’s finger the same as if would any mortal flesh. But what  _ did _ interest him… what was it, that taste, it was on the tip of his tongue-  _ ah _ . 

The taste of rot filled his tastebuds; fitting for a creature that ate the life force of another being. Curious; could he consume Black Hat's life? Not a soul, surely, but whatever it was that made him  _ him. _

Flug was already whimpering pathetically, and Black Hat had only bitten through half his finger thus far. Deciding to have a  _ little _ mercy to such a loyal and hardworking minion, he allowed Flug to keep the finger.

He shrugged, letting go of the man's hand. "I would prefer not to hear you whine about your finger for hours." he tsked, as a hint for Flug to  _ shut up _ . "What do you know of your own abilities?" he asked, changing the subject abruptly. As much as he’d love to keep poking and biting Flug until he had all his answers, he was a busy man with  _ stuff to do _ to keep this company running.

Flug paused for a second, a little unsure. He’d kept so much of himself secret for so long, it felt almost taboo to speak about himself out loud… but he’d really rather  _ not _ get Black Hat mad at him… besides, the demon was his best chance at figuring out what he  _ was _ . 

"W-Well, I have night-vision, I'm fast at climbing, um, and digging, I have s-strong scent and taste,” he paused, glancing down at his bitten finger before stumbling out the rest of his answer. “-and I'm im-impervious to, to a lot of things, like poisons, drugs, gasses, the cold, stuff like that."

Black Hat paused, contemplating all of this lovely information. Impervious to poisons, drugs, gasses, and even the  _ cold _ ? Oh, this was going to be so easy to exploit. In fact, he should teach Flug a command for  _ attack _ and he’d have an interesting pet… though he supposed Flug was already enough of one as it was, monster bits aside. “How much have you experimented upon yourself?” he asked, still musing over the possibilities. 

Flug fidgeted, looking away and gulping. "I've been running experiments since I was a kid. And... I've used a fair number of the weapons I've made here on myself, to test them and... test myself." He explained, keeping things simple.

Black Hat shook his head, taking again. "No no, don't be vague with me, Doctor. I want details. What did you do to yourself? Did you ever get a scar?" He plucked at the doctor's coat. "Take it off, I want to see."

Flug flinched, sliding his coat off his shoulders before setting it on a table. However, his remaining glove and shirt still covered most of his chest. Oddly enough, there did seem to be a few small, but noticeably red scars on the side of his one free arm.

"M-Most everything that hurts m-me is healed by my next feeding but... the one thing I've found that can really hurt me is fire." he muttered, half hoping Black Hat wouldn’t hear. As if. 

"Fire?" The eldritch being nearly lit up with a cruel sort of joy. "Fire scars you permanently?" Visions of branding Flug danced through his mind. Oh, the  _ fun _ he could have- maybe he should use a flame to add tally marks with to his skin, one for every time Flug disappointed him. 

Flug paled a little at that look- the, ‘I’m about to eat you alive’ look. He stepped back, fumbling with his hands again before gripping his shirt.Maybe... he should start keeping things to himself. “That’s, um, t-that’s all…” he muttered, looking slightly past Black Hat at the door. 

"Oh no no no, Flug, there's no escaping me." Black Hat tsked once more, stepping closer as his presence stretched a touch higher, just to cast a shadow over the fearful man. "And don't even think about lying." He purred, reaching out and grabbed Flug's neck, just tight enough to hint at his strength but not enough to actually cause any physical symptoms.

"Are we on the same page, Doctor?"

Flug shot a hand to the hand on his throat, gulping and feeling his adam's apple bob against the cool flesh. A cold shiver dropped down his spine as he nodded quickly. 

”Y-Yes sir, of course, clear as day~" he squeaked with what air he had, his voice raised in clearly false joy. "N-Nothing hidden between us~" 

_ ‘pleasedon'thurtmepleasedon'thurtmepleasedon'thurtme’ _ he thought, his gaze darting away

"Good boy." Black Hat let go of the man's throat to pat at his paperless cheek patronizingly. "That being said... Why don't you try to learn to lie better, hm?"

He stepped back, his aura folding in on himself smoothly. Apart from his unnatural coloration and lack of nose (and teeth, and, well, most of everything), the air around him seemed almost human. There was no radiating malice, just a faint smile mocking Flug.

“Anything else I should know?” Black hat asked, amused as he watched Flug recover. The smaller being shook his head, posture meek and submissive- Flug knew his place. 

“Very well. Now, Doctor, why don’t you get back to work? Surely I’ve taken up enough of your time.” Black Hat said, clapping his hands twice as he’d seen Flug do without thinking. His mind was distracted by what he’d learned, already putting together the pieces with what he knew of known souleaters- in fact, the scene that played out in front of him took him entirely by surprise. 

The lights snapped to full brightness, and almost instantly Flug let out a loud  _ S C R E E C H _ of pain, the palms of his hands smashing over his eyes. He scrambled back back, falling on his bottom and crawling under a table, keeping a hand covering his eyes and letting out a few whimpers of pain.

_ Ah _ . That explained why he lowered the lights prior to removing the paper bag. His eyes were photosensitive to an extreme degree. Mentally mapping the location of the laboratory in relation to the outside, Black Hat contemplating ripping open the side to let sunlight pour in… he set it aside; the laboratory was underground, and furthermore, there was the dining room between the room and the sun. He was not about to ruin such a room just to spite Flug.

Instead, he tilted his head, then walked over, kneeling to look at Flug. There was a bored sort of pity in his gaze, akin to looking at a squirming roach stuck on its back. A sad, pathetic little creature without a way to defend itself, good for nothing more than being squashed.

So- a creature that hunts and eats humans, but is close enough in form to successfully cross-breed with its prey. The offspring had minimal differences from the default human shape, along with added immunity to the cold, but with a fatal weakness to fire and the light. Seemingly ageless- or maybe he’d died a long time ago, if the fact he tasted like a rotting corpse was any indication. 

And as Flug lacked an extra mouth on his stomach or the back of his head, that left one option. 

He may know what Flug consists of, and how he eats as well as why, but he was not particularly familiar with earth's cryptids, finding them far too pathetic to bother knowing the names of.

He wasn’t telling Flug, of course. 

“Something to tell me, Flug?” he tsked, grabbing the other's bag off the table and tossing it onto his shivering form. Flug clung to it almost immediately, shoving it on so quickly Black Hat was surprised it didn’t tear in two. 

He waited until Flug had seemingly readjusted, turning his attention back to his disappointed boss. 

“I recall you saying your weakness was fire alone… or did you not think I needed to know this bit?” Black Hat asked, keeping his voice even. He enjoyed watching the way Flug still jerked back, shivers darting down the inventors form. Yes. His scientist knew him well, indeed. 

“I, er- I didn’t mean, I meant, light is a-attached to flames- I d-didn’t think-” he stuttered, silenced when Black Hat reached under the desk, grabbing the front of Flug’s shirt and yanking him out, standing back up to his full height. 

“No, you didn’t think, did you Flug?” Black Hat asked, shaking his head. “A shame, I’ll have to punish you so you know to behave~”

Flug whimpered at that, curling up a little under his boss's grip like a kitten. He knew better than to fight back. But… oh god, what if Black hat decided to burn him? Or… or throw him outside without his goggles, or into the sun?! 

Maybe that last one wasn’t possible or reasonable. 

Black Hat turned, shifting Flug to hold him under a hand as he briskly walked out of the lab, humming a little tune to himself as he made his way to his bedroom- the perfect spot. He kicked open the door, making his way to the bed before dumping Flug onto it. 

“Strip off that shirt, and lay on your back.” he commanded, confident Flug would obey the order. 

He stepped away, manifesting his powers to create something long and slim, widening at one end into an intricate top hat design. The inside was decorated  with a nice cursive B above and to the left off a H, filling the Hat shape nearly entirely. Black Hat made his way to an elaborate fireplace, snapping his fingers to light it with sharp, green flames before he’d even arrived. He gleefully stuck the brand in, watching it start to turn red and hot under the intense magical heat.

Flug really wished his sensed weren't as strong- he flinched as he heard a sound cut through the air, best described as 'metal straining slightly as it heated up and expanded by a few millimeters', set against a background of a flickering fire. 

Mentally, he tried to imagine himself somewhere else, as if it could erase the oncoming pain. Still, he did as he had been ordered, his eyes clearly locked on the brand the whole time, his expression unreadable under his bag. He watched as Black Hat removed the device of Flug's impending pain with a pleased look on his face, sinking back onto the bed as if trying to distance himself further, his throat nearly sandpaper. 

The weight of what was about to happen seemed to be crushing his lungs, while his eyes slid from the red hot metal of the brand, to the approaching demon holding it. Part of him wanted to bolt at the mere sight of the brand while another part of him that won out suggested that running would only make things worse, since he  _ knew _ Black Hat would catch him.

Before he’d even arrived at the bed, Black Hat snapped and manifested inky black tentacles, which shot out from under the bed to pin Flug down. Sure, Flug wasn't going to run away, but he was going to be in incredible amounts of pain, and nobody can control flinching. This brand was going to be perfect, even if he had to cover Flug entirely with his powers apart from the part to be branded.

Black Hat climbed atop the bed, holding the brand up so it didn't touch anything and start a fire, then straddled Flug. It was to give the best view and most careful application. He ran his hand over Flug's chest, keen eye tracking every muscle as he decided where he wanted the brand to go. He smirked as he made his choice, flipping the brand upside down, aligning it with a critical eye.

He aimed it over the center of Flug's chest, right above that rapidly beating heart. He only got one chance at this. He took a deep breath, steadying himself with some extra tendrils to keep his hands steady, and pressed it down on Flug's skin.

Flug screeched in pain the moment the brand touched his skin, attempting to jerk away from the pain on reflex only to remain frozen and trapped by the tentacles encasing him. 

It felt as if liquid fire was spreading over the skin surrounding the forming wound, the flesh cauterizing near instantly under the intense heat, as the top layer of flesh just under the brand burned away. Whatever strange protection he seemed to have to chemicals and literally everything else faltered here, letting him taste the full force of the assault on his skin.

At some point his mind plunged into a point when all he could register was something along the lines of  _ painpainpain _ and silent begging for it to  _ stop _ .

Black Hat nearly lost himself… that screaming was  _ exquisite. _ Truly some of the best he had heard in his many, many years, and definitely some of the most satisfying, especially with the sizzle and crack of the man's skin. He held the brand in place for just a few seconds, but he was sure that it would feel like an eternity. He pulled it up, amused when the burnt flesh stuck to the iron, then sent it away to the void.

Flug was dimly aware that he was sobbing by this point, and the pain felt like it was tearing right through his body, leaving him broken and weak. Suddenly, Black Hat’s hand pressed down over his forming scar, causing his voice to raise in pain once more- before cutting out and leaving him silent, his voice giving out after all his yelling.

Black Hat watched in amusement before Flug faltered and passed out- a touch disappointing, really. He sighed and stepped away, straightening his coat before walking out of the room, closing the door as he went. 

He needed to get Flug a bite to eat once he awoke.


	4. Research

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here we go! this is the last chapter before we start in on the plot.

The unfortunate thing about trying to look up accurate literature about the Jikininki is that, unfortunately, it’s mostly second hand documentation.

Black Hat shifted aside a pile of old and yellowing scrolls, not caring when he knocked a few priceless tomes to the floor. The handful of books weren't much help either. He glared at the paper laid out before him, as if that would cause it to curl up and _burn_ from his sheer annoyance.

He _could_ cause them to curl up and burn from his glare if he wanted, but it was such a hassle to replace his personal collection. Besides, that wasn’t going to help him figure out more about what exactly Flug _was_. Instead of turning them into a pile of still smoking ash, Black Hat snagged the nearest book and started flipping through it once more.

For whatever reason, the humans that lived in the Jikininki’s homelands simply didn’t seem to have _had_ a written language, at least from what he’d seen. Most legends had been passed down verbally for _generations_ before they’d ever been recorded, and it was largely impossible to separate myth from fact.

Add to that that when he attempted to further look into the humans that had passed down those legends, he found the Algonquian people actually described most tribes living between North America's Great Lakes and plains. He did not have the time, and more importantly patience, to look through every local version of the Jikininki until he found the overlapping facts.

What’s worse, Black Hat was half _positive_ that other humans, explores from across the sea, had encountered the Jikininki’s and mistaken them for another monster entirely. A… _vampire_ , they were called. They shared some similarities, supposedly starting as normal humans, dying and gaining pale skin, feasting on their former kind, living by moonlight and harmed by the harsh day…

But that could describe quite a few cryptids, really.

It took him awhile to learn another word, wendigo, was not a completely unrelated creature, but another name for the Jikininki. Supposedly, it meant ‘the evil spirit that devours mankind’, or more plebian, ‘cannibal’. Black Hat preferred to think of them as ‘entertainment’.

Surprisingly, he found more information under _that_ name.

The creatures are supposedly created when a human resorted to cannibalism- funny, he’d forced many a man to eat their former friends and families for sick amusement, but they’d never become monsters. And the text stated they were also supposed to have an insatiable hunger for flesh- but no matter how much they ate, they’d remain hungry.

He found nothing about souls.

Black Hat was growing more and more disappointed. In the past, he’d been genuinely impressed with humanity's ability to somehow guess the nature of even the most absurd cryptid and turn even the most obscure weaknesses into a catchy bedtime story. But for once, it seemed likely that humans simply didn’t fully understand what they were dealing with. Maybe they did and Black Hat just hadn’t found the right information yet. He was getting bored. Perhaps he should switch to a more _hands on_ approach.

The one useful piece of information he _could_ find was that they were supposedly native to the northern forests of the Atlantic Coast and the Great Lakes Region. A bit far from Hat Island, where he’d met Flug. Wasn’t even in Mexico. Either he’d run from, or been taken from that area, or the _wendigo_ that had fathered his dear scientist had been the one removed.

Black Hat doubted Flug’s father had been willing to have a child with its prey.  

Nodding to himself, Black Hat stood from his desk, cane appearing in his hand. It had been some time since he’d been on a hunt, he _really_ needed to remind the creatures that went bump in the night who they should _fear_.

 

How these creatures liked this bloody _cold_ was beyond him.

True, he himself could not be harmed by the cold, but he didn’t _like_ it. It was _annoying_ . He decided he should try having Flug weaponizing the cold at some point. He could even use the scientist as the test dummy in their promotional video. After all, it wasn’t as if the cold could harm him. So he said. Black Hat would like to _test_ that immunity at some point. Flug hadn't noticed the drugs Black Hat had slipped into his morning coffee after all.

That aside, Black Hat was growing impatient. He’d tied that women to a tree _ages_ ago, and still nothing. She’d even screamed her lungs out for help before she’d fallen silent when her vocal chords gave out. He was starting to think-

A dark shape emerged from out from the darkness of the forest, bouncing off the trees as it sprung towards the woman, knocking over the lamp Black Hat had placed near her. The rolling light illuminated a tall, pale creature with long claws and overgrown thick hair growing over its head and down its back. And the glint off of those _teeth_ was truly something to behold.

Apparently, Flug’s growth had been stunted by his human half. That, or the particular Jikininki that had fathered him had been a runt. This one was nearly twice Flug’s height, with teeth that, taking both the length of the top and bottom set together, were the length of a humans head.

The creature tore into the woman, making Flug’s own approach timid by comparison. It tore its claws into her chest, snapping its jaws shut over her head, her neck, her chest- rapidly running out of stuff to bite, as it tore off and devoured whole body parts.

Black Hat had to admit, it was quite an entertaining sight.

He reached out from the darkness, grabbing the creature. It whipped around, its body bending in a way it shouldn’t as it snapped its jaws at Black Hat’s arm a mere moment after he’d laid his hand on the creature. Despite having seen what Flug’s teeth could do, Black Hat was still surprised when the Jikininki bit clean through it, swallowing the limb.

That was a mistake.

The creature jerked back, making a wheezing noise as it attempted to cough the limb back up, slashing at Black Hat instead in its frustration. Black Hat dodged easily, moving the arm _inside_ the creature, changing its shape.

It was clear when the Jikininki started jerking in pain that his plan was working. If anyone asked, he’d planned to have his arm eaten. While the creature was distracted, Black Hat reached out again with his intact arm, changing its shape into a long, winding tentacle to wrap around the creature, restraining it. His other arm reformed itself so that he could correct the hat on his head.

“Now, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” he asked. The creature snapped its jaws and made several growling sounds.

After no other monsters appeared from the shadows to attack him, Black Hat decided this Jikininki was alone. He didn’t recall reading whether they were social creatures or not, but he wasn’t interested in sticking around to find out. Not yet, at least.

With a snap, they disappeared, leaving only a half eaten body, a lamp, and the blinking red light of a camera hidden in the trees.


End file.
